Ruffle
by Tainted-Oddity
Summary: A trusted scientist working for Team Rocket is asked to document research progress on a secret project lead by Giovanni aiming at perfecting a human-pokemon hybrid. His research subject: Ruffle, a Mr Mime clone. One-shot.


I received a call early in the morning asking me to get to the excavation site north of Vermillion as fast as I could. Apparently, they'd finally found "_it_".

I didn't know what "it" was exactly, nor what kind of experiments I'd be asked to conduct on it, but I didn't really care for I was used to Giovanni's paranoidly censored speeches on the phone.

Upon arriving to the site, I followed one of the grunts down a tight dirt road to a larger team of armed grunts closing in onto something.  
Then I saw "it". A disturbingly humanoid being, cornered against the rocky wall, panting and shaking, restlessly shifting its terrorized stare from one grunt to another.

_"What on earth is this thing?"_ I asked, intrigued.

_"A hybrid"_ a fellow scientist standing close to me answered. _"A half-human, half-pokemon hybrid, according to Giovanni."_

_"Bred from which pokemon exactly?"_

_"A Mr Mime. It is the pokemon with the DNA closest to that of a human. Only one chromosome had to be altered to allow compatibility with a human cell. Biologists at Celadon's medical center were capable of recreating a chromosome artificially, which made this whole thing possible."_

_"But why would anyone do that? Is Giovanni trying to splice humans to enable them to use pokemon-specific abilities and strengths?"_

_"Actually, as much as this would make for a valid and useful reason, the actual purpose of this genetic experiment is much different."_

_"Is it so?"_

_"You see, what they were trying to conceive was some kind of a drone version of a human being, basically a primitive and animal being who's body mechanics work and respond exactly like that of a human, but without the more evolved brain and intelligence that makes us what we are, well, humans."_

_"...so as to conduct tests on the human body and brain without the moral constraints of torture onto an actual person, right?"_

_"Exactly."_

And of course, that was my department.

_"And how exactly are we going to catch the thing? Do pokeballs work on it?"_

_"Unfortunately, no. The splicing is still too raw on this one to allow for it, but further clones will have their genes manipulated in a more elaborated manner as to allow for specific selection of both pokemon and human features."_

Eventually, we were able to capture and bring the being back to the laboratory, where I was put in charge of it.  
The first few months of my study consisted mostly of observing and documenting, interacting with, and caring for the strange being. I'd run routine medical exams on it, feed it, bathe it, teach him various things, and much more.

At first it was rather scared; running to the other end of its cage as I walked by, avoiding all visual contacts and refusing to eat its food until I was completely out of the room.  
Slowly, trust started to build as it associated me with a feeding hand. It'd carefully approach me as I handed out its food, wary of my every move and twitch, then would quickly snatch the bowl from me and run back to the end of its cage to eat.  
As weeks went by, the being became less and less scared... of me that is. As soon as other scientists walked in, he'd draw back into panic mode, but whenever I was alone with it, it'd start following me around from afar in a shy manner. After a while, I was able to let it roam around the room freely when I -and only I- was present.  
I noticed it slowly started mirroring my moves, in a way reminiscent of its ancestry, but with an eager curiosity. I took a pen and paper from my office and brought them to it. I drew a line and a circle with the pen to show it how to use the tool, then allowed it to try.  
Much to my amusement, it quickly became obsessed with drawing shapes with the pen, so much that I had to be careful as to provide it with enough paper to write on so it'd not start drawing on the floor and walls.  
Sometimes when I didn't have much work to do, I'd sit next to it and show it how to draw things, like stickmen, and talk to it. It was fun and refreshing.

Quickly, he started pronouncing some of the words I told him, just like when he was mirroring my moves. I even nicknamed him "Ruffle" due to his habit of causing somewhat of a mess with everything I gave him.  
He was quick at learning things, and soon he could understand and say basic simple words, a step above normal pokemons who can only pronounce their name. He learned the words "eat", "play", "scary", "sleep" and used them to communicate with me.  
In my eyes, he was now more than a guinea pig I was asked to take care of. He was a companion, a _"he"_ and not a _"it"_ anymore.  
He trusted me a lot, he always welcomed me with a hug, and the longer I had been absent, the stronger he'd hold me.  
But if there was one thing that hadn't changed since he arrived, was his fear of people. Whenever someone else walked in, he'd hide behind my legs and shake until the person had left the room.

Months passed by and Ruffle's trust in me kept growing stronger. He learned to communicate with more words, he could voice out his emotions, had his favorite foods, his favorite TV shows, and what he couldn't voice out, he'd mime it.  
Sometimes he'd cry when I left at the end of the day, begging me to bring him home with me. But the next morning he'd be even happier to see me. He was never angry.  
He liked to play tricks on me, he knew it always resulted in a tickling marathon from me.

One day, he game me a drawing he made. There was two stickmen next to each-other, one taller than the other with a large rectangle over its body. Ruffle pointed at it then pointed at me, then pointed at the shorter "naked" stickman before pointing at himself.  
I smiled and almost shed a tear, but Giovanni erupted into the room, causing Ruffle to drop the drawing and run to the other end of the room, scared.

_"Well well, how are things going here?"_ he asked.

_"Oh, quite fine to be honest! The little fella has grown quite a lot, as you asked I noted everything in the reports I send you daily."_

_"Yes, yes, thank you for that, you've done a wonderful job. It has given us all a precise idea of its brain's development, and now seems to have entered adulthood. I have one last thing to ask of you concerning this case. We need to check on the physical state and growth of the internal organs, and of course, that cannot be fully done with simple scanners. What I am asking of you is a live dissection of the creature, fully documented and detailed."_

I felt my heart tighten like it was thrown in a compressor.

_"Are you out of your mind?"_ I snapped as I grabbed Giovanni's shoulders. _"This living being is more than a simple pokemon, it has potential! It can feel and learn just like we do! It knows fright and pain! Having it die in a inhumane fashion like that simply is not acceptable!"_

_"Do I have to remind you that you are my employee and therefore are here to perform whatever I want you to? You are not paid to become friends with the beasts or argue my orders, unless you wish to lose your job."_

I let go off my grasp. He was right. I was a fool to let my feelings grow for a beast I knew was destined for cruel scientific experiments I would personally be conducting, but I could not shake off the guilt of having betrayed his trust as I watched other scientists carry the poor terrorized and screaming Ruffle out of the room.

The next time I saw him, he was in the surgery room, sedated nearly to unconsciousness, with a glare in his eyes begging for me to get him out of there.  
I avoided his stare as I prepared my tools, and let a few words escape my mouth softly.

_"...I'm sorry, Ruffle..."_

As my scalpel dug through his skin, a deafening shriek was heard in the whole room before he passed out from pain. Moments later, he had succumbed of physiological shock before I had time to finish the dissection.

My assistant grabbed his body and threw it in the trash container outside the building as I walked to a adjacent room where dozen of cages containing barely younger and wilder frightened clones of Ruffle were piled next to an automatic feeder.  
Without a second thought, I opened the nearest cage and brought the panicked clone to the surgery room were the dissection would resume...


End file.
